A day after re-applying for the position of head coach of the Indian women’s team, Ramesh Powar has said that he hasn’t “closed any communication channels” with the veteran cricketer Mithali Raj. Powar’s contract wasn’t extended after the World T20 in West Indies after a public falling out with Mithali, who also happens to be the ODI team. In the aftermath of her exclusion from the playing XI for the semifinal against England, the duo made harsh observations about each other in separate communications with the BCCI, that was leaked into the public domain.

During a recent chat with CricketNext, Powar sought to downplay the issue. He said, “I haven’t closed any communication channels with Mithali. For that matter, I am on speaking terms with all members of the team, including Ekta (Bisht), Mansi (Joshi) or even the youngest member of the side Jemimah (Rodrigues). We made a lot of progress with this team ever since I took over. Winning series of Australia A, Australia, topping the group in women’s World T20 and then reaching the semifinals for the first time in eight years — those are results to be proud of.”

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Since new applications will soon be considered, several candidates including Herschelle Gibbs, Owais Shah, Manoj Prabhakar, and Dav Whatmore have applied for the role while Gary Kirsten and Mike Hesson have also expressed their interest. The issue has become a point of contention within the Committee of Administrators (CoA), with Chairman Vinod Rai keen on choosing a veteran candidate to ensure harmony within the team, on the other hand Diana Edulji stills demanding that Powar should continue with his role, at least till the tour of New Zealand in January.

Talking about the same, Powar said, “I can’t keep worrying about CoA politics. I am aware that one member is backing me while the other is not. I can only make an effort to serve the Indian team and it was my duty to apply after Smriti (Mandhana) and Harmanpreet (Singh) backed me openly as well as in the meeting with Mr. Rai.”

ALSO READ: Rai Rejects The CoA Member Edulji’s Request To Bring Back Powar

Despite Edulji’s protests, Rai forced the BCCI’s hand to appoint an ad-hoc committee featuring Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad, and Shantha Rangaswamy to conduct the interviews for the next women’s coach. From all evidence, Rai is likely to take the final call on who becomes the next women’s coach. BCCI General Manager (cricket operations) Saba Karim has reportedly asked the ad-hoc committee to meet in Mumbai on November 19 for conducting the interviews the next day.

Talking to CricketNext, ad-hoc committee member Rangaswamy said, “We have got no list of candidates as yet and Saba has just informed us to meet in Mumbai on the 19th. I don’t see any issue with a paucity of time, because the combined cricketing experience of this committee is over 120 years. We can vet the candidates on the 19th and prepare ourselves for the interview the next day.”